Valved drop forming stopper with removable air and liquid orifice plugs



Patented Dec. 30, 1952 OFFICE VALVED DROP FOR-MING STOPPER WITH REMOVABLE AIR AND LIQUID ORIFICE PLUGS Vojtch BalcanPrague-Smichov, Czechoslovakia Application December 13, 1946, Serial No. 716,058

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to closure devices for bottles and the like containing a liquid and which are designed to permit the liquid to be dispensed in drops, and is an improvement upon the closure device described in my co-pending application, Serial No. 716,057 filed December 13, 1946, now U. S. Patent No. 2,605,938.

Drop type dispensing closures must be reliable in operation. When the bottle is tilted to a dispensing position, it is important that the liquid be discharged uniformly in drop form without having to shake the bottle. It is also important that all the liquid flow into the liquid discharge passage and that none flow into the air inlet passage. Otherwise, air cannot flow into the bottle in the uniform manner which is essential to satisfactory uniform discharge of the liquid. Another important characteristic of the closure is that it be able to cut off the fiow accurately after the desired number of drops have been dispensed.

A preferred embodiment of the invention which makes these desirable characteristics possible is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a vertical central section of the improved closure taken on line l-l of Fig. 2 and Fig. 2 is a top plan with a part broken away to show a desired detail.

With reference now to the drawing, the closure member I at its lower end is seen to be provided with a threaded cap portion la adapted to be screwed upon the neck of the bottle (not shown) containing the liquid to be dispensed. The upper end of the closure body is provided with a transverse tapered open-ended bore 2 extending there through and spaced air inlet and liquid outlet bores or passages 3, 4, respectively extending from spaced points in the bore to the inner surface of the closure. Bore 3 is provided with a removable orifice plug 5 for air with orifice 5a and bore 4 is provided with a removable orifice plug 6, it being noted that the orifice 6a therein is conical and enlarges in the direction of liquid discharge therethrough to ensure proper flow.

By making the orifice plugs 5 and B removable it becomes possible to substitute other plugs having differently sized orifices and thus alter the discharge characteristics of the closure. Thus the closure bodies may be standardized to the end that the same closure body may be used with difierent plugs which is more economical than having to manufacture a completely different closure for each characteristic desired.

Positioned in the tapered bore 2 is a complementary tapered rotatable plug 1 having a sub stantially axial bore 8 defining a liquid outlet passage extending inwardly from the discharge end, and a branch transverse bore 9 connecting the bore 8 with the bore 4 when bores 9 and 4 are in alignment in one position of rotation of the plug 1. Another substantially axial bore ID at the opposite end of plug 1 defines an air inlet passage extending inwardly from such end and a branch transverse bore H connects bore H] with the air inlet bore 3 in the closure body when bores I l and 3 are in alignment, this latter condition prevailing whenever the bores 9, 4 are in alignment.

The inner ends of the axial bores 8 and Ill are closed to render the same non-communicating and the inner end of bore I 0 extends beyond the junction of bore ll therewith by an amount greater than the diameter of bore ll to provide an air trap Illa. Should any liquid get into the air passage, bores 4 and II, it will 'go into the trap Illa compressing the air therein. However, discharge of liquid from the bottle lowers the pressure to a level less than that in trap Illa with the result that the liquid is forced out of the trap back into the bottle.

The air inlet end of plug 1 is provided with an enlarged portion l 2 for easier turning by the fingers and a threaded counterbore 13 therein communicating with bore l0 serves to receive a threaded plug l4 having a longitudinal bore l5 therethrough. The inner end Mafci plug [4 is tapered to match the taper I6 at the inner end of bore l3 and hence as the plug I4 is screwed in or out, the flow of air inward through bore I5 and liquid outward from bore 8 can becorrespondingly regulated. Complete air cut-off is obtained by screwing plug I4 inwardly until the mouth of the bore l5 seats against the tapered surface IE or by rotating plug 1 until the bores 9 and I l are no longer in registration with bores 4 and 3, respectively.

As seen in Fig. 2, plug 1 is releasably retained in the tapered bore 2 of the closure body by means of a. retaining ball H which seats in a transverse peripheral groove l8 in the plug, the ball being spring loaded into its seating position by one end of a compression spring l9 which is positioned in a bore 20 in the closure body arranged transverse to the plug axis. The opposite end of the compression spring is retained by a screw plug 2! in bore 20.

Having now described my invention and illustrated a practical embodiment thereof, I claim: A. dropper closure for bottles comprising a body portion having a transverse tapered open ended bore extending therethrough and spaced air inlet and liquid outlet passages extending from spaced points in said bore t0 the inner surface of the closure, a tapered rotatable plug seated in said bore having a substantially axial bore defining a liquid outlet passage extending inwardly from one end thereof and a branch passage connecting the outlet passage to the liquid outlet passage in the body portion in one position of rotation of the plug, said plug having a substantially axial bore defining an air inlet passage extending inwardly from the opposite end thereof and a branch bore extending from the same to the surface of the plug to communicate with the air inlet passage through the body portion in the aforesaid position of rotation of the plu the inner ends of said axial bores being closed to render the same non-communicating, the inner end of the axial bore defining said air inlet passage extending beyond the junction of the-branch bore therewith a distance greater than the diameter of the branch bore, anvadjustable valve in the bore defining the air inlet passage for regulating the rate at which air is passed therethrough, and removable orifice plugs mounted 4 in said air inlet and liquid outlet passages at the inner surface of the closure, the orifice in the orifice plug in the liquid outlet passage being conical and expanding in the direction of liquid flow therethrough. v

V-OJTECI-I BALCAR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 560,070 Staub et a1 May 12, 1896 608,271 Raiguel Aug. 2, 1898 1,973,755 Geyer Sept. 18, 1934 2,188,802 Beckett Jan. 30, 1940 2,411,435 Kirschenbaum Nov. 19, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 3,440 Great Britain Feb. 22-, 1892 262,517 Italy Feb; 2', 1929 601,400 Germany Aug. 15; 1934 

